Coil-heating furnace.



W. B. PEIRC E. COIL HEATING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10. 1911.

Patented Oct. 16, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1;

W. B. PEIRCE.

COIL HEATING FURNACE. V APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10. 1911.

Patented Oct. 16, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

unrrnn s'rArEs PATENT OFFICE,-

WILLIAM 'B. rnmcE, or nonrn TONAWANDA, new urban, assrenon 'ro BUFFALO new COMPANY, or NORTH ronawanna, nnw max, A coaromrion ornnw YORK.

COIL-HEATING Fourteen;

Specification of Letterslatent. Patented Oct. 16, 1917.

- a lication filed November 10, 191).. Serial No. 659,446?

'.citizen of the United States, residing at 145 time.

Bryant street, in North Tonawanda, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coil-Heating Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

This invention concerns progressively heating a continuous length of material while feeding it into, through and out of a.

furnace. It involves a method of handling the material, which, though useful for other purposes, is particularly adaptedfor furnaces and operations where the metal is heated to a very high temperature,particularly where heated up to the softening point. Effective heating to such temperatures requires that the metal passing through the furnace be kept freely exposed on all sides to a very high heat for a considerable To do this with the metal passing straight through the furnace would require either a very slow feed or a very long furnace, whereas it is desirable to use a relatively small, compact furnace and to give the metal a desired high rate of feed into and out of the, furnace combined with a relati vely slow rate of progress through the fur nace.

For some purposes, it has been proposed to accomplish this by giving the metal a straight feed into and out of the furnace,

the intermediate portions being Wound tightly around a revolving drum within the furnace. Such method involves extensive contact of the metal with the drum and prevents its free exposure and uniform heating on all sides. On the other hand, winding the metal in large, open, freely suspended coils in accordance'with my present method has not heretofore been attempted because of the diliicultics resulting from the initial stiffness of the metal and the effect of the heat in softening it. i

My method, while capable of useful employment for operations permitting tight winding of the material on'the drum, is of much greater importance and usefulness for operations requiring .rco suspension and exposure of the metal for effective, uniform, high temperature heating. It involves giving to the material fed into the furnace a from the rod mills.

flexible, the construction of the support'i's such as to permit the successive turn to assume and maintain a curvature and spacing roughly v approximating, the coil or helix shape originally given it. 1

By suitably predetermining the length of the interior support and the number of turns of the helix hanging thereon the length of time required for travel of each turn through the furnace maybe as long as necessary.

Hence, it is possible to maintain the requiredrate of output of heated material while using a relatively small; compact furnace.

Because of the effectof the heat upon the coiled material in softening it, it is necessary to carefully control the rates of movement of the metal at the supply end and the exit end, so that it will be unwound from the exit end of the softened to ,t, e proper degree and before it becomes too. soft to maintain proper separation of theturnsof. the helix...

The material is uniformly heated because the amount of itwhich actually touches the support is small and the point of contact is more or less shifting.

The material to be heated maybe supplied in ready formed coils containing: any desired length of the material, preferably the ordinary commercial coils =-obtainable hailix by the time it has become Such material already has an initial shape or set of approximately the curvature of the coil in which it'isman' keted and such curved shape, or s'etmay be utilized in the formation of the desired helix within the furnace, the method of transfer into the furnace operating to progressively open out the coils to the desired helical form. v

The transfer of the material from the exterior coil to the interior hel'r'x may be effected, with or without change in the diameter of the turns, through an oblique open ing into the furnace, and this opening nee not be of much greater diameter than the thickness of the material.

messes the top -point where they rest upon the cylcinder, the number of turns of the coil being L45 *y-a wall between them perforated for passage plicity,

such as will enable it toremain in the heating chamber of the furnace long enough to be brought up to the desired temperature, after which it passes out from the furnace chamber, 30, through an orifice, 5, in the end wall of the furnace, in the direction of the rotation of the sustaining member, 3.

Upon its emergence from the chamber, the' heated material is'ready forany subsequent operation to which its heated condi- I have preferred to make the supporting members land 3, of equal diameter, and'to rotate them at the same speed, and for sim- I have shown them as mounted upon the same shaft, 2 9, and driven bya single driving member, sprocket, 11, actuated by the drive chain, 25.

Itywill be understood,though, that separate driving members may be used for the exterior and interior coil supports.

The preferred method of operation of my copending application Serial No. 74,330, fi ed January 26th, 1916, as a division of this application.

The apparatus disclosed herein is covered by certain of the genericclaims contained in my copendingapplication Serial'No, 846,744 had the claims of this application are directe to features not shown in'said application,

' serial No. 846,744.;

I ,coil supporting rotatable members with means for rotating them by power and with jacent the furnace, and means for project- Havingthus described'my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is.:

1. A furnace having exterior and interior coil supporting members in axial alinement with means for driving them by power and with a wall between theni perforated for passa e of the coiled material.

2. X furnace ha'ving exte'riorand interior o the coiled material without distortion.

3. A'furnace havin exterior and interior coil supporting mem ers with means for driving thein'by power and a wall between them with a curved passage through it to ermit the passage of-thecoiled material rom one coil supporting member to the other without distortion. v

4. Afurnace having exterior and interior coil supporting members and a feeding de- Z YlQB SQPlBUGd as to operate upon the coiled material at a point between said supporting members, and in a direction tangential to the curve of the coiledmaterial.

5. A furnace having exterior and interior rotatable coil sup-ports of substantially equal diameter, and a feeding device with means for actuating said supports and feeding device"'at a uniform circumferential speed.

6. A furnace, a coil supporting member situated interiorly thereof, a second coil sup porting member situated exteriorly thereof, means whereby said two coil supporting members are movably supported, and means independent of the material of the coil for -moving said two c'oil supporting members in unison. v

7 A furnace, arotatable coil supporting member situated interiorly thereof, a second rotatable coil supporting member situated exteriorly thereof, said two rotatable coil supporting members being arranged in axial alinement, and means independent of f axial alinement, and means independent of the material of the coil for rotating said two coil supporting members in the same direction.

9. A furnace,

a rotatable coil supporting member situated interiorly thereo 0nd rotatable coil supporting member situ ated exteriorly thereof, a common supporting shaft to which said two rotatable coil supporting members arefixed in spaced relation, and means for driving said shaft to cause the coil supporting members to rotate;

in the same (ll16Ct1OX 1- 10. A furnace having an interior coil sup:

porting member, and the wall ofthc furnace having a feed aperture therethrough through which the material maybe fed'to said coil supporting member, and said aperture extending through the wall of the furnace in a curved direction, the radius of the curve being approximately that of the coil to be supported by said coil'supporting member.

11. A furnace, means exteriorly of the.

furnacdfnilmlding a coil of material ading the material of the coil in a direction axially of the coil into the furnace.

'12. A furnace, means exteriorly of the v axially of the coil into the furnace, said means including a drive element engaging "the coil'material to drive-the same in directiontangential to the curve of the coiled material and a passage way formed through the wall of the furnace adjacent said drive element through which the coiled material jacent the the wall of the element through r'ection tangential to the curve of the coiled material and a passage w'ay formed through furnace adjacent said drive which the coiled material l may pass into the furnace without material distortion from its coiled condition, av coil supporting member interiorly of thefurnace, both ofsaid coil supporting members being rotatable, and means for rotating said two coil supporting members.

15. A furnace, means exteriorly of the furnace for holding a coil of material adacent the; furnace, and means for prqectmg the material of the coil in a direction axially of the coil into the furnace, said means including a drive element engaging the coil material to drive the same in a direction tangential to the curve of the coiled material and a passage way formed through the wall of the furnace adjacent said drive element through which the coiled material may pass into the furnace without material distortion from its coiled condition, a coil supporting member interiorly of the furnace, both of said coil supporting members being rotatable, and means for rotating said two coil supporting members at uniform speeds comprising a common shaft to which both of 40 said coil supporting members are attached and means for rotating said shaft.

16. A furnace, a cylindrical coil supporting member within said furnace disposed with: its axis in a horizontal plane, and said coil supporting member being of a diameter smaller than the interior diameter of the coil to be supported thereby so that the coil Will hang loosely therefronif-irnd expose substantially all portions of the coil uniformly 5 to theheat of thefurnace and .means for rotating said coilsuppor'ting member so as to cause the coil supported thereby to rotate.

17. A furnace having a compartment therein to receive a coil of material to be treated and a rotatable member for frictionally enga ing the coil of material at one point in tie circumference thereof to rotate said coil of material, and means independent of said coil of material forrotating said rotatable member.

18. A furnace, means exteriorly of the furnace for holding a coil of material adjacent the furnace, and means for projecting the material of the coil in a direction axially of the, coil and in a curved path into the furnace, the curve of said path being approximately co-axial with said coil.

WILLIAM B. PEIRCE.

\Vitnesses:

B. W. COULDOCK, S.MANsELBAU1vr. 4 

